1. Technical Field
Exemplary aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to a belt assembly that includes a belt formed into an endless loop and entrained about a plurality of rollers and an image forming apparatus including the belt assembly, and more particularly to, an image forming apparatus, such as a copier, a facsimile machine, a printer, or a multi-functional system including a combination thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In known image forming apparatuses, a belt formed into an endless loop is employed for an image bearer such as a latent image bearing member and an intermediate transfer member for carrying an image on its outer circumferential surface and a conveyor system for carrying a sheet-type medium. A belt assembly equipped with such an endless looped belt includes a plurality of support rollers, and the belt is entrained about and stretched taut at a certain tension between the plurality of support rollers. The plurality of support rollers is arranged at predetermined shaft intervals. A shaft-end retainer such as a frame supports directly or indirectly both ends of the shaft of the support rollers.
Normally, one of the support rollers constitutes a drive roller to move the belt. A drive transmission device such as a gear train including an idler gear and a drive gear is disposed at the end of the shaft of the drive roller. Driving power is transmitted from a drive source to the drive roller via the drive transmission device. Rotation of the drive roller causes the belt to travel. Generally, one of the support rollers constitutes a tension roller biased against the belt by a biasing device, thereby applying a desired tension to the belt.